Organ



March 31, 1936.. M, E, HARDY 2,035,806

ORGAN Filed Feb. 15, 1935 Patented Mar. 3l, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE ORGAN Application February 15, 1935, Serial No. 6,704

8 Claims.

'Ihis invention relates to an improvement in organs and moreparticularly in the shutter mechanism thereof.

Heretofore it has been the practice to arrange the shutters so that whenclosed they arein a common plane and when fully opened they assume anangle of substantially 45. It has been found that these shutters, notonly while being opened, but even when fully opened, cause considerabledeflection of the sound waves, and that the high frequency waves of atone as a result of this deiiection are completely lost. The result isan unbalanced mixture which can not give the even, uniform tone desiredby the organist.

The primary object of this invention is to provide swell shuttermechanism in which the shutters, when fully opened, assume a position atan angle of approximately 90 to the mechanism frame to provide passagesleading from the sound compartment into the chancel or auditorium.

A further object of this invention is to provide swell shutter mechanismin which the shutters, when closed, assume a position at an angle ofapproximately 45 to the mechanism frame.

Another object of this invention is to provide swell shutter mechanismcomprising a plurality of shutters pivotally mounted midway their widthand means for rotating alternate shutters in opposite directions foropening or closing passages therebetween, the parts of each adjacentpair of shutters at one side of the pivot points moving toward eachother and the parts at the other side moving away from each other.

These and other objects will appear from an examination of the followingdescription and of the drawing which forms a part thereof, and in whichFig. 1 is a View in elevation of a shutter mechanism embodying thisinvention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof taken along the line 2 2 on Fig. l,the shutters being shown in full lines in the closed position and indotted lines in the fully opened position; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a detail of the shutter mechanism.

The shutter mechanism ID selected for the purpose of illustrating thisinvention comprises a frame I I in which a plurality of shutters I2 arepivotally mounted. These shutters, when closed, prevent the escape ofsound waves from a sound compartment to a chancel, auditorium or otherroom, the direction of travel, when the shutters are opened, beingindicated, for the purpose of the following description, by the arrows35 placed on Fig. 2.

When the mechanism is closed, the shutters assume a position at 45 tothe plane of the frame, and When opened they assume a posiat 90 thereto.This is clearly shown in Fig. 2. The relative relation of the shutters,when the mechanism is closed, is shown in Fig. 3, the edge of oneshutter I2 abutting one side of the edge of an adjacent shutter I2. Atthe inner ends of the frame are mounted shelves I3 and I4 against which,when the mechanism is closed, edges of the shutters at each end bear,the edge of the left shutter abutting the side of the shelf I3 and theedge of the right shutter abutting the edge of the shelf` I4. The sideedges of the shutters and shelf against which the edges of the shelf andshutters bear are recessed to receive pads I 5 of felt or similarmaterial to seal the closures and eliminate clattering when the shuttersare closed. Suitable checks (not shown) may be provided to stop themovement of the shutters.

The shutters are pivotally mounted at approximately the center axes uponpins I6 which enter the walls of the frame II. Mounted upon each shutteris an arm Il, the arms of alternate shutters extending in oppositedirections from the frame. The ends of the arms il support and arepivotally pinned to trace rods I3 which extend at opposite sides of theshutters. The reciprocation of the rods obviously causes the opening andclosing of the shutters.

Various means may be provided to reciprocate the rods I8 as, forexample, the following means which I have elected to show in thedrawing. Mounted upon the upper side of each rod I8 near one end (theright as shown in the drawing) is a block to which is pivotally securedone end of a link 2I. The link 2l is similarly secured at the other endto an arm 22 fixed upon a rock shaft 23. The shaft 23 is oscillated by abalanced pedal 24 connected by a link 25 to an arm 26 mounted upon arock shaft 21. A link 28 connected at one end to a second arm 29 on theshaft 2 and at the other end to an arm 30 fixed upon the shaft 23transmits the motion of the pedal to the rock shaft 23. In accordancewith the usual practice the pedal 24 is depressed by the organists toeto open the shutters, and closed by pressure being applied to the pedalby the organists heel. Suitable means (not shown) limit the openingmovement of the shutters so that they do not pass beyond the fully open90 position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

When the mechanism is closed, the adjacent shutters are at right anglesto each other and when it is opened, the shutters are parallel. This isclearly shown in Fig. 3 by full and dotted lines. When the shutters areopened, the edges of each pair of adjacent shutters which are in contactwhen the shutters are closed move away from each other and thus thewidth of the passage is uniformly increased by both shutters; theopposite edges meantime are moved toward each other and. similarly actuniformly to decrease the width of the passage. The position Vassumed bythe fully opened shutters provides a plurality of passages from thesound compartment through which the sound waves pass freely without anydeflection, flowing` around the edges of the shutters in a mannersimilar to the owing of water around theVv buttresses of a bridge. Thusthe Vtone iswithout distortion and includes waves of both high and lowfrequencies. Y

The shutters may of course be operated by any one of the various typesof electropneumatic swell engine or two swell engines mayA be employedto operate the two series of shutters. In these cases the swell pedalwould operate a series of contacts connected to the magnets of the swellengine or engines. The shutters may be moved alternately through theseries of stations, thus obviating any possibility of jamming whenclosed, or may beopened individually in series by individual shutteraction.

The structure herein shown and described exemplifies one embodiment onlyof my invention, and it will be understood that other em-V bodiments maybe made differing therefrom in many particulars as, for example, in theform and mounting of the shutters, the trace rod mechanism, and theoperation thereof, without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. Shutter mechanism for an organ cornprising a frame, a plurality ofshutters mounted therein for movement between a closed position of themechanism in which the shutters assume a position at approximately 45 tothe plane of the frame, the edges of adjacent shutters being in contact,and a fully opened position of the mechanism in'which the shuttersassume a position at approximately 90 to the plane of the frame, wherebywhen the shutters are opened passages are provided for the tones to passwithout deflection, and means for moving the shutters.

2. Shutter mechanism for an organ comprising a rectangular frame, aplurality of shutters pivotally mounted therein for movement between 'aclosed position of the mechanism in which the shutters assume a positionat approximately 45 to the plane of the frame, the edges of adjacentshutters being in contact, and a fully opened position of the mechanismin which the shutters assume a position at approximately 90 to the planeof the frame, whereby when the shutters are opened passages are providedfor the tones to pass without deflection, and means for moving theshutters.

3. Shutter mechanism for an organ comprising a rectangular frame,shutters pivotally mounted in said frame at the ends thereof, theshutters being at approximately 45 to the plane of the frame with oneedge of each shutter in contact with an edge of an adjacent shutter whenthe shutter mechanism is closed, shelves carried by the frame, withwhich shelves edges of the end shutters Vcontact when the mechanism isclosed, and means for moving said shutters into a position atapproximately 90 to the plane of the frame, whereby passages areprovided for the tones to pass without deflection.

4. Shutter mechanism for an organ comprising a rectangular frame, aplurality of shutters pivotally mounted in said frame at the endsthereof, said shutters when the mechanism is closed assuming a positionat approximately 45 to the plane of the frame with one edge of eachshutter in contact with an edge of an adjacent shutter, and when themechanism is opened assuming a position at approximately 907 to theplane of the frame, shelves carried by the frame, with which shelvesedges of the end shutters contact when the mechanism is closed, andmeans for moving the shutters to and from such position. f

5. Shutter mechanism for an organ comprising a frame, a plurality ofshutters mounted therein for movement between a position in which themechanism is fully closed and a position in which'the mechanism is fullyopened, the shutters in the first named position being at an angle ofapproximately 45 to the frame, having the edge of one shutter in contactwith the side of the edge of the other shutter and, in the second namedposition, being parallel to each other at an angle of approximately 90to the frame, and means for moving the shutters.

6. Shutter mechanism for an organ comprising a frame, a plurality ofshutters mounted therein for movement between a position in which themechanism is fully closed and a position in which the mechanism is fullyopened, the shutters in the first named position being at an angle ofapproximately 45 to the frame and inthe second named position being atan angle of approximately 90 to the frame, means on one side of saidframe for moving alternate shutters in one direction and means on theother side of said frame for moving the remaining shutters in adirection opposite to that in which the alternate shutters are moved bythe first mentioned means.

7. Shutter mechanism for an organ comprising a frame, a plurality ofshutters mounted f therein for movement between a position in which themechanism is fully closed and a position in which the mechanism is fullyopened, the shutters in the first named position being at an angle ofapproximately 45 to the frame and in the second named position being atan angle of approximately 90 to the frame, means for moving alternateshutters in one direction and means for moving the remaining shutters ina direction opposite to that in which the alternate shutters are movedby the rst mentioned means.

8. Shutter mechanism for an organ comprising a frame, a plurality ofshutters mounted therein for movement between a position in which themechanism is fully closed and a position in which the mechanism is fullyopened, the shutters in the rst named position being at an angle ofapproximately 45 to the frame and in the second named position being atan angle of approximately 90 to the frame, and means for simultaneouslymoving alternate shutters in one direction and the remaining shutters ina direction opposite to that in which the alternate shutters are moved.

MAURICE E. HARDY.

